THE KILLING: 2.13 What I Know — Season 2 Finale REVIEW

The central mystery that underpinned two seasons of The Killing has been revealed — but was it worth it in the end?

THE GOOD

Rosie’s killer(s) revealed. After last season, there was never much concern that the central mystery wouldn’t be answered, and in fairness the answer worked in so much as I believed that both Jamie and Terry were very capable of their roles in Rosie’s death.

The Terry reveal was particularly impactful and provided the emotional payoff that the finale desperately needed. There was always going to be a twist after Jamie’s role in Rosie’s death was established after about 10 minutes, and it pretty much rescued what was otherwise a fairly standard conclusion to two seasons of story.

The Rosie flashback footage worked well in revealing more about who Rosie was and provided additional poignancy to her death.

The touching footage on Rosie’s film (letting her family know that she was leaving to see the world, and that she loved them) was another rewarding moment in the episode and paid off the curious glances that Rosie was giving her parents in the flashbacks. Moreover, it made me care a little more about Rosie, which helped underscore the sense of ‘justice’ at her killers getting caught.

The direction of the episode was measured (the Rosie/lake scene gave less, when it would have been easy to give more, for example), while the musical composition facilitated the emotionality, rather than overselling it.

Overall, the central mystery and its surrounding layers was brought to a conclusion that made sense and ultimately made Rosie a more prominent character in her own story.

THE BAD

Jamie’s sudden unravelling was a bit contrived, timed perfectly for the finale. Holder shooting him dead solidified the Holder/Linden unit, but it was mainly done to facilitate the big Terry reveal.

While Terry’s role in Rosie’s death worked for me, Linden’s chance discovery of her involvement through the broken taillight was a bit contrived. Fair enough the taillight mystery was paid off, but it felt mechanical in the way it was ultimately resolved.

I would have liked more time with the Terry fallout as that was the most emotive aspect of the finale.

I feel that the final scene could have carried more weight. Even if this is to be the series finale (and it looks that way) I wanted something a bit more significant. The mention of the ‘new case’ didn’t do it for me.

I don’t think Season 2 quite managed to deepen or broaden the world of the show to the level I was anticipating. Obviously The Killing not Twin Peaks which has a whole other world to its story (though they share a similar central mystery), but ultimately I’m not sure The Killing has enough to live beyond this season.

ANSWERS

There’s only one that matters — Jamie and Terry killed Rosie Larsen. Jamie caught her overhearing the Native American bones plan. Jamie tried to kill her, but she survived. Terry dumped the campaign car, with Rosie in the trunk, in the lake in the hoping of keeping Michael, who was about to run away with her before the Rosie inconvenience. Terry didn’t know it was Rosie in the trunk until the following day.

THE KILLING

Well, the finale was certainly interesting, and satisfying in places. As mentioned above, the Terry reveal — and more significantly, the horrifying reactions of Stan and Mitch, and the terry-fying (literally) scene of Terry putting the car in drive and watching as it rolled slowly into the lake — worked, and worked well. The sound of Rosie’s screams as she drowned was an important touch, so important that I almost couldn’t imagine that scene working as well without it, and it served a decent parallel with Rosie’s screams (of fun) at the very start of the episode.

The Richmond/campaign stuff failed to really inspire my interest throughout, and this didn’t change in the finale. That said, I liked his line to the notion that the players change but the game stays the same — “things will change”, hinting at a steely resolve. Also, it’s worth considering whether he would have become mayor if not for Jamie killing Rosie and how he reconciles that. If leaving Gwen out in the cold and meeting with Ames and Chief Jackson is anything to go by, it looks as though he’s willing to sacrifice his morals going forward.

Going back to Terry, I do find it interesting that she didn’t know she had killed Rosie until the next day. It says a lot about how easy it was for her to kill someone from whom she was so detached, only to discover that it was someone so very close. That level of depravity is quite something and really reinforces the notion that, while the bulk of the story is about the aftermath of Rosie’s death and its impact on a family and community, the act of killing Rosie (as per the title) was ultimately significant in itself because of who did it.

All in all, I’m glad The Killing got to tell its story at its own pace. There were certainly flaws along the way – and ultimately the show’s world is too limited to progress beyond Season 2 (it could happen but I’m not sure how interesting it would be) – but it’s a worthwhile story.